Hello all!
We want to publish a new game, in 2 versions, one will be free, with publicity and some features disabled, and the other will be for a small fee with no publicity and all features open.
My question is, can we have these as 2 versions of the same game, so when someone who used the free version will install the full one, it will over write the free version? or I have to have them as 2 separate apps completely?
Thanks.
if Android do as you wish, if apple treat as separate.
T.
They will always be two separate apps. You can’t have the full version overwrite the free one or remove it. As well, if you were to have in-app purchases in the app, an in-app purchase inside of one cannot be used on the other.
The ideal way to do this is to develop one version of the app, with the full functionality added through an in-app purchase. So the app has all the features, but you limit certain features until the user buys them within the app. Then you have just one app to maintain and one set of in-app purchases. In the long run (hell, even the short run), it’s a much better solution.
Well, it would seem the boss made up his mind, we’ll have 2 apps, one would be the light version, the other full, from the light you would be redirected to google play/ itunes to buy the full app which will be a version of it’s own, when you login in the full app with you light app account you will get your old data anyway, at least as far as the information we save on our servers and not locally on the device.
Well, sounds like you have a workable solution, with storing data on your servers. That will take care of the obstacles. But just because it will work, doesn’t mean it’s the best idea.
On the plus side for you, the developer, it means more work for you. So as usual, bad management decisions might mean job security. 
That would have been the case if I didn’t make the app from scratch to fit that type of “management”, with a changing of a variable to true or false I can export a light version and a full version from the same project
if Android do as you wish, if apple treat as separate.
T.
They will always be two separate apps. You can’t have the full version overwrite the free one or remove it. As well, if you were to have in-app purchases in the app, an in-app purchase inside of one cannot be used on the other.
The ideal way to do this is to develop one version of the app, with the full functionality added through an in-app purchase. So the app has all the features, but you limit certain features until the user buys them within the app. Then you have just one app to maintain and one set of in-app purchases. In the long run (hell, even the short run), it’s a much better solution.
Well, it would seem the boss made up his mind, we’ll have 2 apps, one would be the light version, the other full, from the light you would be redirected to google play/ itunes to buy the full app which will be a version of it’s own, when you login in the full app with you light app account you will get your old data anyway, at least as far as the information we save on our servers and not locally on the device.
Well, sounds like you have a workable solution, with storing data on your servers. That will take care of the obstacles. But just because it will work, doesn’t mean it’s the best idea.
On the plus side for you, the developer, it means more work for you. So as usual, bad management decisions might mean job security.
That would have been the case if I didn’t make the app from scratch to fit that type of “management”, with a changing of a variable to true or false I can export a light version and a full version from the same project